Castle wrote:I've never been in a seance, never messed with a Ouija board, never did the Bloody Mary stuff. I see and hear stuff pretty often, so I think I'd rather not invite something else into my world.

Maybe YOU should participate in one, Castle. Ask who's leaving scratches on you while you sleep

The "Mary Worth" legend was simply a Mt. Greenwood variation, or perhaps even a Chicato variation on the Bloody Mary legend. The consequences were very simular to the ones listed by johnsonelisa. Sudeen death, insanity, claw marks, and a whole host of other things as well. My younger sister got into that, but again, NOBODY ever got past 5, and all but one never got past 4. And it wasn't just the bathroom. ANY mirror could be used to summon Mary Worth.

On a side note, Bloddy Mary was actualy a real person, very much like Vlad Dracula. She was more commonly known as Mary, Queen of Scots. She got the nick name "Bloody Mary," because of the horrid executions she had performed to anyone who refused to accept the Catholic Faith.

If my memory serves, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Bloody Mary were two different people. Bloody Mary was Elizabeth I's older half-sister. Her mom, Catherine of Aragon, had been put aside by Henry the VIII when he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother. Because the Pope refused to grant him a divorce, England broke with the Catholic church over that. Mary, the only surviving child of the first marriage, was traumatized by what her father had done to her mother (and her), and made it a point to try to bring back the Catholic faith during her reign. She persecuted Protestants, hence earned the name "Bloody Mary."

Mary, Queen of Scots was Elizabeth's cousin, I believe. She had a claim to the English throne herself (I've forgotten how), and I think Elizabeth may have ended by killing her to secure her own reign. But ultimately, the crown passed to Mary's son, James I of England (who was simultaneously James VI of Scotland). Elizabeth was a Tudor, but James was a Stuart (spelled Stewart in Scotland).

Murfreesboro wrote:If my memory serves, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Bloody Mary were two different people. Bloody Mary was Elizabeth I's older half-sister. Her mom, Catherine of Aragon, had been put aside by Henry the VIII when he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother. Because the Pope refused to grant him a divorce, England broke with the Catholic church over that. Mary, the only surviving child of the first marriage, was traumatized by what her father had done to her mother (and her), and made it a point to try to bring back the Catholic faith during her reign. She persecuted Protestants, hence earned the name "Bloody Mary."

Mary, Queen of Scots was Elizabeth's cousin, I believe. She had a claim to the English throne herself (I've forgotten how), and I think Elizabeth may have ended by killing her to secure her own reign. But ultimately, the crown passed to Mary's son, James I of England (who was simultaneously James VI of Scotland). Elizabeth was a Tudor, but James was a Stuart (spelled Stewart in Scotland).

You are correct, Murf! Mary Stuart was Elizabeth's cousin and her claim (and I think the claim of Catholics) was that Elizabeth was a bastard and had no claim to the throne and Mary was next in line for it. If I remember right, Elizabeth had her tried for treason and executed because she was supposedly involved in plots to remove her from the throne. I'm an Elizabethan history nerd

Murfreesboro wrote:Yes, during that tumultuous era, your religion was also your political affiliation.

You know what's kind of funny? Several years back, I took a class on terrorism (believe it or not, it was part of my major haha) and my professor had been all over the world. She told this story about her visit to Ireland when we were going over terrorism in Ireland (probably the most confusing thing ever) and she said that she went to buy a soccer jersey and she was asked which one she wanted. She didn't know anything about any of the teams so she said it doesn't matter. She was then asked, what religion she practiced and she asked what that had to do with anything. She was told it has everything to do with which team jersey she should get. Basically, if she was Protestant, she shouldn't buy these teams and if she was Catholic, she shouldn't buy those teams.

Of course, in Ireland, the Protestants were forcibly settled in the north (by the Stuarts, I think, or maybe Cromwell, not too clear on that--17th-century, anyway). I believe they were mostly Scottish Presbyterians, which is where the term Scotch-Irish comes from. Anyway, the Protestants were given all kinds of economic breaks denied to the Irish Catholic natives. I believe they were also given land which had been confiscated from the Irish natives, who were then forced to live as tenants on what had been their own land. So the "religious" difference and hostility between Protestants & Catholics over there is much more involved than being Protestant or Catholic. I mean, they have an identity because of their religious affiliations, but I don't believe the hostility between those groups really has much to do with their religious beliefs.

Of course, in Ireland, the Protestants were forcibly settled in the north (by the Stuarts, I think, or maybe Cromwell, not too clear on that--17th-century, anyway). I believe they were mostly Scottish Presbyterians, which is where the term Scotch-Irish comes from. Anyway, the Protestants were given all kinds of economic breaks denied to the Irish Catholic natives. I believe they were also given land which had been confiscated from the Irish natives, who were then forced to live as tenants on what had been their own land. So the "religious" difference and hostility between Protestants & Catholics over there is much more involved than being Protestant or Catholic. I mean, they have an identity because of their religious affiliations, but I don't believe the hostility between those groups really has much to do with their religious beliefs.

We we were studying the terrorism over there, the classroom had these enormous dry erase boards on the wall that were on tracks that you could slide up and down and there were more boards underneath. My professor filled up TWO of these huge boards with terrorist groups and as she was writing, someone called out, 'you haven't put the IRA up yet' and she said 'that's on a different side. I haven't made it there yet' Unbelievably confusing and next to impossible to keep all of the groups straight.